Re: Movies

I watched 'Sing'...the new CGI one with the singing animals.

It was surprisingly much better than I thought it would be. There were a lot of cliches I was expecting that they avoided, and the music was good. Pretty funny and with a message that was not vomit-inducing.

Re: Movies

Just watched the new GITS live action movie. Mostly purty colors and action then a philosophical and narratively challenging film, but at least it was made by people who care two shits about the franchise unlike other films (ahem ahem avater the last airbender)

Re: Movies

Also saw The seventh seal today and it was not just purty colors and action but was a philosophical and narratively challenging film about religion, death and your purpose in life, and how to keep your humanity without a set of rules to guide you through life.

Re: Movies

Watching Johnny Guitar again, and aside from being a crack movie, I think most Utena fans would find lot to like in it, from the exploration of gender roles to the way petty jealousies and past traumas fuel decisions in subtle ways that seem inexplicable at first.

My Brain is the Wakaba and Shiori Funtime Hour. With limited commercial interruption.

Re: Movies

It is... a pretty little soap bubble of a film, which hype and critical acclaim has thoroughly squashed.

Like, it's okay on its own. It's fine. Pretty good, even, if you're into that kind of thing.

I mean, aside from how weirdly appropriative the (white) male lead is about jazz. Like NO ONLY I APPRECIATE ITS TRUE GENIUS. And there is the jazz-splaining scene, where he explains to the (white) female lead what all these crazy black folks is up to.

And it's got this heavy "oh, if only we could go back to the good 'ole days when we didn't have to worry about class and gender and race and we could just sing vapid love songs" sort of vibe too.

So okay, I guess it's actually kinda weirdly racist. Reminds me a bit of when I heard someone do a review of The Jazz Singer. It's not Birth of a Nation, but god forbid we showcase an actual black person performing music from black American culture. Except there's John Legend, so points there? Except he's... kind of arbitrarily cast as a villain, despite never saying or doing anything wrong. He makes the leads fight and that's... bad... somehow? Even though he doesn't do it intentionally? And is never anything but professional?

GOD DAMNIT FILM WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE JOHN LEGEND A VILLAIN?

Also, hot damn do I not have a reason to give a shit about these people. They only ever want things for themselves. And the world of the film is strangely accommodating of that. I mean, the male lead comes the closest, with his pretensions to "save" jazz music, presumably for everyone, but OH MY GOD the less said about that the better. And just... they have no obligations to anyone but themselves, they have no reason for doing anything except that matches up with their never-to-be explored ambition, just... fuck 'em.

Which, well, it would all be fine and good if this was some little indie flick. It would be cute. And pretty. And look, they watched a movie once, isn't that nice? Don't you feel good that you watched the same movie?

But it doesn't really hold up to the Big Picture context, because it has exactly jack squat to say about anything. If it's trying to be a cynical look at the movie business, hoo boy does it fail at that. The ending doesn't go all the way to happily ever after, but, well, [everyone gets exactly what they wanted at the beginning and they don't seem to regret it any, despite the leads not ending as a couple for... no apparent reason.]

And folks, this is a Hollywood entirely without grit. No one does drugs! There is no crime! (except for a mis-parked car) There are no troubling pressures to look or act a certain way or darker implications or scummy hiring practices! Hell, there is no Screen Actors' Guild, and certainly no labor disputes. I'd be surprised if this incarnation of Hollywood even had a porn industry. It's less Hollywood and more a Disney-fied dream of Hollywood. So, cynical? Not a bit, really.

Re: Movies

The thing that kills me, with that movie, is that there is a good story, or a good take buried somewhere in the question of white guys trying to "save jazz"

Taj Mahal has been very open about not doing "woe is me!" numbers because he knows his audience is substantially white and he's not going to sing, "woe is me!" to a bunch of white people.

The Blues Brothers is largely two movies and a handful of abums about two white dudes trying to save black music. But, they make an effort to present actual black people/characters who are less deluded than they are, and certainly, who understand socio-econiomic realities differently than they do.

IIRC, there's a terrible episode of Quantum Leap about a white boy who understands jazz like no one else, and he's got to convince the stodgy old black folks, as you do.

This isn't a subject that hasn't been tackled before, in entertainment and real life. It's not as if there isn't something worth talking about there. But, it ain't in La La Land. Heck, the music isn't even that good in La La Land.

But, the people who made it, they were doing talk show rounds, insisting no one has done a musical in "forty years" and how important integrity is to them, referring to jazz and other traditionally black forms of music as "lost" or asking how many decades it's been since someone has even done a jazz album or a gospel album, and if they hadn't done that, I wouldn't call it white supremacist, erasure-at-full-bore bunkum, but... they did, so I will.

Basically, they really do believe this:

Kita-Ysabell wrote:

"oh, if only we could go back to the good 'ole days when we didn't have to worry about class and gender and race and we could just sing vapid love songs"

Compared, to use The Blues Brothers again, with, "What's one more old nigger to the Board of Education."

My Brain is the Wakaba and Shiori Funtime Hour. With limited commercial interruption.

Re: Movies

Just saw Pans Labyrinth, and it was quiet nice. While I think that the surrealism is a little off and the historical accuracy of the events may be questionable, it presented some great characterization and breathtaking scenes that I just love.

Also watched Central Intelligence and may I say one of the worst films I have seen in a while. Escapism 101 for bored 30 year old men of teens, and in all honesty, it cant handle its own ideas and tries to be something its not. Other then getting to see the rock in his underwear (btw, this film is so gay I have a hard time believing that the rock straight) and a few, FEW giggles it was a waste of time and money.

EDIT: also you should watch spy instead of CI. way funnier and why more interesting then CI and definitely worth your time more then CI.

Re: Movies

itavin wrote:

[ It has so much potential... But they cut out Major's sexuality (which is a major, major part of the mangas and animes)! Gimmie futuristic lesbian androids!

I was ok with Scarlet Johanson playing the role because the body Major is in is a manufactured one, so it wouldn't have to necessarily be Asian, but what I do mind is that she couldn't say the name of her own character correctly. The character's name is Mokoto... Legtimately, half of the time she said it MAkoto. Not the same name.

You can tell they don't expect to get a sequel because they threw everything they could into this movie, which made it a mess. The red herring villain is completely pointless and actually derails the entire rest of the story. Had they focused on The Puppet Master and fleshed out that story (like they did in the 1995 movie) it could have been amazing. Instead they corrupted the whole point of the series, which is not "Look what happens when we get too close with tech" but rather "What will happen if we don't integrate with tech".]

Re: Movies

Also watched the new beauty and the beast and in all honesty, Belle is like so not the best Disney princess like rly? But other then that, it was fine, and we got to see that gaston is like so gay, and that makes him the best Disney villain ever and it makes him more interesting the the beast and especially Belle. I appreciate more gay. Also I haven't seen the original in a while so here she is not the best but was she in the original?

Re: Movies

Just saw 2 films that show how a directors can take c+ scripts and either turn them into a good film or a bad film.

Corpse bride was a fun ride all along, with some great feminist messages and impeccable visuals that remind me of classical Disney, and showed Tim Burton with his great style of directing.

Meanwhile, Guardians of the galaxy had a great premise and nice character conflicts that had director James Gunn (who is surprisingly the writer of the film) make every wrong decision that he could possibly make in terms of directing (or at least in the last two and a half parts of the films). Confusing action scenes, bad use of tone and weirdly shot scenes made me cringe throughout most of the film. Even the kind of cute ost didnt help, and its weird since I liked the first film.

LadyButterflyNebula wrote:

itavin wrote:

[ It has so much potential... But they cut out Major's sexuality (which is a major, major part of the mangas and animes)! Gimmie futuristic lesbian androids!

I was ok with Scarlet Johanson playing the role because the body Major is in is a manufactured one, so it wouldn't have to necessarily be Asian, but what I do mind is that she couldn't say the name of her own character correctly. The character's name is Mokoto... Legtimately, half of the time she said it MAkoto. Not the same name.

You can tell they don't expect to get a sequel because they threw everything they could into this movie, which made it a mess. The red herring villain is completely pointless and actually derails the entire rest of the story. Had they focused on The Puppet Master and fleshed out that story (like they did in the 1995 movie) it could have been amazing. Instead they corrupted the whole point of the series, which is not "Look what happens when we get too close with tech" but rather "What will happen if we don't integrate with tech".]

Anyway, that's my tiny screen rant.

Personal rant. Her name is Motoko, not Mokoto.

Flowers without names blooming in the field can only sway in the wind. But I was born with a destiny of roses, born to live in passion and glory.

Re: Movies

Re her same sex video game boating orgy and her boyfriend who knows nothing, nothing at all...

How insane would the movie be if a) that sex scene was in there, b) it was paralleled with Batou's bodily positioning alongside his entry into her mind, as it was in the comic and c) the whole thing was interrupted/layered with commentary from the director or screenwriters as the author did originally?

Re: Movies

I was finally brave enough to watch Bernard Rose's Snuff-Movie, which was not the movie I thought it would be, and was the movie is should be. It reminded me a lot of the "wrong tape" in the Utena movie. But, an entire movie of wrong tape. Covering our fascination and revulsion with the false intimacy of movies, with revenge porn, documentary, docudrama, immature catharsis, peeping in keyholes and watching through the hands over our faces.

My Brain is the Wakaba and Shiori Funtime Hour. With limited commercial interruption.

LadyButterflyNebula wrote:

itavin wrote:

[ It has so much potential... But they cut out Major's sexuality (which is a major, major part of the mangas and animes)! Gimmie futuristic lesbian androids!

I was ok with Scarlet Johanson playing the role because the body Major is in is a manufactured one, so it wouldn't have to necessarily be Asian, but what I do mind is that she couldn't say the name of her own character correctly. The character's name is Mokoto... Legitimately, half of the time she said it MAkoto. Not the same name.

You can tell they don't expect to get a sequel because they threw everything they could into this movie, which made it a mess. The red herring villain is completely pointless and actually derails the entire rest of the story. Had they focused on The Puppet Master and fleshed out that story (like they did in the 1995 movie) it could have been amazing. Instead they corrupted the whole point of the series, which is not "Look what happens when we get too close with tech" but rather "What will happen if we don't integrate with tech".]

Decrescent Daytripper wrote:

Re her same sex video game boating orgy and her boyfriend who knows nothing, nothing at all...

How insane would the movie be if a) that sex scene was in there, b) it was paralleled with Batou's bodily positioning alongside his entry into her mind, as it was in the comic and c) the whole thing was interrupted/layered with commentary from the director or screenwriters as the author did originally?

Re: Movies

Rewatching Cinderella(1950) was an amazing experience, I had nostalgia overboard. And, I still think it holds up, despite its rather sexiest attitude ("Leave the sewing to the women" is a line that sums up this movies attitude on women) and the double sworded message, it is still a beautiful film, masterfully directed, and uses subtle imagery and line to portray character growth. Yeah, it did start a terrible cliche of the "Cinderella story" of rags to riches and, while I would argue otherwise, sexiest idea of the prince and the princess. But it also has the message of kindness works only if it is in both directions, shown as a metaphor in Cinderella who didnt want bruno to hurt Lucifer out of kindness, but in the end asks him to murder the cat (no really, he fell from the attic's window to the farm. He be dead yo), and how she disobeyed her mothers orders and wishes by destroying her idea of control (the smirk in the beginning of the movie to the one at the end are slimier) and achieving her happy ending. I could continue on that, but you get the point. Also, I find Cinderella to be an interesting character, having her in the start be passive and nice, to being more active and harsh, thanks to the support of the fairy godmother, the mice and the glass slipper being a symbol of hope and identity. She may not be too well explored, but she certainly has more character and development then aurora, belle and Pocahontas. Also, she has more smug then them. Weird to like one of the two things Utena was like "You and your terrible ideas need to die" (the other one is Greek mythology, if you are wondering).

Re: Movies

I saw Spiderman Homecoming this past Sunday.

It was a refreshing film adaptation where Spiderman actually feels like a teen, not just a 30 something year old guy pretending to be a teen. They avoided the super hero plot trap that is SKY BEAMS which made me very happy. I was gonna walk out if it was just another beam, shooting into the sky like in:

The AvengersMan of SteeleAvengers Age of UltronBatman V SupermanSuicide Squadand a ton of others I didn't bother to memorize.

It's also refreshing that we aren't made to sit through another Uncle Ben killing. The audience is given the benefit of the doubt that we know who this character is. I don't think anyone wanted to see his origin again for the third time in a decade.

Re: Movies

*sigh*

The Dark Tower

You know when Hollywood takes something, squeezes everything interesting and unique about it, squashes it into that mass-produced predictable schlock that feels like everything else you have ever watched before that was mediocre? That's the Dark Tower.

I had hope! The casting was excellent! But no. I even liked the idea of the movie playing out differently than the books - some surprises to be had. I was expecting it to be over-the-top and entertaining, even if it wasn't good. But NO. The movie is about JAKE. It starts off in modern day New York. Jake has a dead father and a loving mother. Less than 5 minutes are spent in the dessert. You never for one minute feel like you're in Roland's world unless they're showing you the two moons in the sky. Roland is 'not a gunslinger' and doesn't care about the Tower, so for most of the movie he doesn't use his guns. Jake is the super special chosen one with super ultra powers that he never uses in any relevant way. The Man in Black is perfectly cast but written as a kind of poor man's Kilgrave, and it is revealed that it is he who killed everyone Roland ever became close to, because we can't have the hero having any flaws, it's better for him to be a personalityless blob. It's not that I want the movie to be cookie cutter like the book - the Harry Potter movies changed many things, but they always FELT like Harry Potter, same for LOTR, even when the movies were bad they had a sense of self, an identity, a strong soundtrack, ANYTHING. The only good thing about this movie is that it starts off with the Tet Corporation logo, you can see 19's scattered around here and there, NorthCentral Positronics, the Dixie Pig & Sombrera Corp are seen around but not explicitly mentioned and the rose is painted on a door somewhere. Heck, the Tower isn't even located in a field of roses - it's kind of sticking out of the sky.

All I could think throughout the movie is how awesome it would have been as a Netflix original series. What a complete waste of time and money for such an incredibly mediocre and forgettable movie.